Big Bend March 22-30 2008

[Darren H]

Not necessarily a LF meet up but might be something of interest to those who are looking for group photography experience.

I plan the outings for the Fort Worth Camera Club and I am leading about 20 folks on a week long photography trip/campout to Big Bend National Park at the end of March (22-30).

There will me and maybe 1-2 other 4x5 users there. The rest will be folks with DSLR's. Still if you ever wanted to get out to photograph west Texas here is a chance to do so with other photographers. Most of us will camp (a few stay in Terlingua at a motel) and we do alot of exploring, hiking, and photographing in this big empty and seldom visited park. Come see the desert in spring.

You can check out some of our outings and pics of past BBNP trips here:

http://www.fortworthcameraclub.com/outings.html

Check us out -please do as we need more large format shooters ;-)

-Darren

[Brian Vuillemenot]

Man, I wish I could make it- BB is my favorite national park, and one of my favorite photography locations! Too bad it's such a long haul from California...

[Darren H]

Man, I wish I could make it- BB is my favorite national park, and one of my favorite photography locations! Too bad it's such a long haul from California...

Yes, Big Bend is a great park. I think of it as a hidden gem that is thankfully overlooked by most people and photographers too. It is a location you can vist again and again and still find new sights and photographs.

We had 24 people make our club trip last year. Having that many photographers out for a week is a great learning and artistic experience. When we are not out making images we are talking photography.

And it can only be a 25-30 hour drive from the Bay area, do like the Cannonball run and you are there in a day ;-)

[David Vickery]

Is that during spring break?

[steve simmons]

Where are the old buildings located?

thanks

steve simmons

[Allen Rumme]

Where are the old buildings located?

Steve,

If you are talking about the building on the second page of the pdf file that looks like a church, that is part of an old movie set located on Hwy 170 a few miles west of Lajitas, TX. It is right next to the road and easily accessible.

For what it's worth, the Brooks & Dunn video "My Maria" was partially filmed at this site, in BBNP and in Lajitas. Here is a link to the video:

http://www.cmt.com/videos/brooks/36758/my-maria.jhtml

[steve simmons]

Thanks Allen


steve

[Darren H]

Where are the old buildings located?

thanks

steve simmons

Steve-

There are old ruins throughout Big Bend National Park. Mostly ranching or mining type stuff.

The scene that has the church and looks like a little village is, like Allen said, are an old movie set. It is called Contrabando and is actually in Big Bend Ranch State Park. It is maybe 10 miles west of the town of Lajitas on 170, it is right on the roadside, and maybe 30 yards from the Rio Grande

Here is a link to it in 360VR

http://virtualguidebooks.com/Texas/WestTexas/BigBendRanch/ContrabandoSetTwo.html

Be warned, only 2 of the buildings were finished out inside, the rest are just 2x4 framework interiors.

Having said that I have stopped there a few times to take pictures.

If you are looking for more in the realm of real adobe ruins, those can be found throughout the park. My personal favs would be the Mariscal Mine (morning or by moonlight) or the several ruins along the last 3 miles of the road to Santa Elena Canyon.

The enclosed image is the Dorgan ruin at night and it is outstanding for photography. It is roughly 4 miles from Santa Elena Canyon (and on a hill 50 yards off the road)and shown on topo maps of the area.

Let me know if you would like to see more images.

-Darren

[steve simmons]

Darren

Thanks very much

steve

[Darren H]

Is that during spring break?

No. Spring Break is usually the two middle weeks of March. I specifically try to avoid the spring break weeks because it is pretty crowded in the park then. If you go the week before or after those two middle weeks and it is very quiet. Easter is the 23 so the first weekend might be busy but by Monday it will be empty again.

[Darren H]

Where are the old buildings located?

thanks

steve simmons

And a few more of the ruins along the Santa Elena road in Big Bend National Park.

Note- the wierd duotone-ish ruin was just a way to play with a middle of the day image when bored waiting for a plane one day.

[Joe Forks]

Well major bummer. We'll be out the week prior, going home on the 22nd or 23rd.
If anyone comes trudging through Marathon prior to then, call my cell at 210-860-0594 and I can extend some hospitality, introduce you to some locals, or pass on some advice about places to go and things to see - maybe sneak out for a quick photo expedition. There's some good subjects in an around Marathon as well.

One of my favorite places in the Park is Dagger Flats. If the Giant Daggers all bloom again this year like they did last year you can't miss it. Last year the peaked around the end of March

http://www.joeforks.com/yucca_faxoniana_W001.jpg

[Darren H]

[QUOTE=Joe Forks;316712]Well major bummer. We'll be out the week prior, going home on the 22nd or 23rd.
If anyone comes trudging through Marathon prior to then, call my cell at 210-860-0594 and I can extend some hospitality, introduce you to some locals, or pass on some advice about places to go and things to see - maybe sneak out for a quick photo expedition. There's some good subjects in an around Marathon as well.

One of my favorite places in the Park is Dagger Flats. If the Giant Daggers all bloom again this year like they did last year you can't miss it. Last year the peaked around the end of March

QUOTE]

Joe- You are right on about Dagger Flats. I have yet to be there for the best blooms but it is a neat location. Great image too!!

I love Marathon, I just pass through but always stop for an image or two outside of town.

Have a great trip and I hope we get some nice blooms.

PS- I just saw that the Texas Land Commission voted to turn down the private sale of the Christmas Mountains. That hopefully SHOULD help pave the way to add them to BBNP.

[Joe Forks]

Yes! Word is that BBNP is going annex the Xmas Mtns! Cross your fingers we get access.

[Darren H]

Here are some details about some of the sights to be seen in Big Bend and some of the planned locations we have for the week.

If anybody would like to meet us out in the park is great. I am expecting about 20-25 folks from my camera club to be there. The crowd will be mainly digital with a couple of users of 4x5, 6x17, or an odd TLR. Anyone can feel free to meet us out there. Just look for a large group of people with tripods, stop by and say hi. I'll be the guy with the Arca-Swiss 4x5.

Here are our planned days. This gives people things to do but also allows them to do their own thing too.


Monday 24th- Meet at Sotol Vista Overlook for Sunset. One of the best
sunset spots in the park with a huge view to the west.

Tue 25th-Morning meet at 9am in Study Butte/Explore the area around Maverick Badlands/lunch in Terlingua following/explore Terlingua ghost town/mining activity.

Wed 26th-Meet for lunch at 11am in Basin/Drive to Hot Springs in afternoon
(bring your trunks/swimsuit)and possibly to Dagger Flat for yuccas in
bloom. additional note- I will be doing the balanced rock in the
Grapevine Hills at sunrise prior to lunch. You are welcome to tag
along. Be aware it is a one hour drive and 45 minute hike in the dark
to get to balanced rock for sunrise.

Thur 27th-Meet at Desert Mountain Overlook for sunrise (a short drive from
Cottonwood Campground). Then move down road to hike Santa Elena Canyon and
possibly photograph the Dorgan Ruins too. Later in the day a hike in Blue
Rock Canyon (semi rugged) is possible.

Fri 28th-Meet in Terlingua at 9am for breakfast/Drive to Big Bend Ranch SP-
and hike Closed Canyon in the late morning (11ish)/Stop at The Big
Hill/Stop at the Contrabando movie set- this is an all day trip. We
could even tie in a stop at an area with some pictographs on the way home.

A link to a map of the park to see some of these areas.

http://www.nps.gov/bibe/planyourvisit/upload/BIBEmap3.pdf


If you like big landscapes, you will love this trip. Hope to maybe see a few folks there!

[Darren H]

Wanted to give a follow up about Big Bend. I spent a week in the park. 21 members of my camera club made it out. The few other large format photographers had to cancel, so there was me with the 4x5, one person with a medium format and 19 folks with their DSLRs.

I had a great trip. I was able to photograph at several old favorites and some new locations. I had some clear days, some cloudy days, a few big west Texas sunsets, and a few days of very spectacular light. Since we also had a full moon we turned those clear nights into night photography and even did some light painting. It was a good place to be a photographer.

I have been looking at chromes and have severl very nice images. I have only scanned 4 so far (the first sheet of sleeved chromes I grabbed), and here are two of them.

The balanced rock is a Big Bend stalwart. It has been several years since I made the predawn hike to it and my first time to photograph it in large format.

An early distant sunrise over the Chisos one windy morning.

Finally an image of one of the nights we did some light painting at an old ruin. It was alot of fun.

I am starting to cover the trip in my blog and you an see images of my camera set up all over the park.

-D

[Brian Vuillemenot]

Great images, Darren. I would have loved to have made it out there, as Big Bend is my favorite national park and it's been threee years since my last trip there. Keep us posted on next year's get-together- hopefully I can make it and you'll have another LF shooter for company!

[Darren H]

A couple more images from Big Bend of the camera in action.